We really, really, really don’t need another Twitter

The Garden #19

Jul 10, 2023

Hello, and welcome to The Garden!

This week on the newsletter: we should stop trying to make twitter (again)

I think that Threads shouldn’t be a thing. Not because of Zuck, although Meta owning all of social media isn’t exactly my dream scenario.

I think that Threads shouldn’t be a thing because we really, really, really don't need another Twitter.

macbook pro on brown wooden table — Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

As a journalism student, I appreciate how useful a Twitter can be to find stories. Type the name of a place on the search bar and you might actually find a story in a way that googling around simply won't do.

I think that no other social media platform has (or wants to have) the sheer searchable immediacy that Twitter has.

But let's be honest here, it's been a while since there’s been a Twitter story that doesn’t go like "X Twitter group got mad at Y on, Twitter, and we decided to make a whole deal about this."

white and black cat sketch — Photo by visuals on Unsplash

I don't want to undermine how relevant Twitter once was for political uprisings in countries where authoritarian dicks managed to get a hold of all traditional media.

But now the internet is the media, and as such, with enough work authoritarian dicks still manage to manipulate, track and censor a lot of the information online.

Arguably, they can manipulate this information (and the people who consume it) way more easily than at any other time in history.

So then, if Twitter isn't good for journalism (and I remain skeptical it ever was), nor does it help keep la resistance alive, why would anyone in their sane mind want to be on Twitter?

Well, from time to time you'll find a banger meme. It also has been a good place for artists to share their work. And the platform is especially good at creating communities around very specific things.

But since Elon made Twitter all about himself, the platform has become some sort of Ouroboros, always looking towards itself. Twitter talking about Twitter gets old so fast.

But I think there is a more fundamental reason why Twitter is a net negative for our lives, and it goes deeper than Musk.

My problem with Twitter has little to do with who owns the platform, my problem with Twitter is the platform itself.

Who is Marshall McLuhan? The Pilloried Professor Who Predicted the Internet | WIRED — Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher, holding a book as he leans over a chair. Photograph, 1966. Bettman Archive

Good old McLuhan said that the “medium is the message,” and the further we go into the digital age, the truer it becomes.

The medium shapes the content it holds. The interface through which we create and consume content defines the range of experiences possible in a platform.

When you spend enough time on Twitter, you start thinking in terms of 240 characters. Short witty jokes, efficient simplifications, quick generalization.

There is no space for nuance, analysis or pause in 240 characters. Language becomes so efficient it loses all meaning, things are either terrible or amazing, shades forgotten for a chessboard.

black and white checkered textile — Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

I don't think Thread has any future, Twitter was addictive, but TikTok is better at that.

Twitter was a revolution for journalism. But I don't think all revolutions are good.

Twitter cannot be recreated. Not because it is not possible to create a Twitter clone, but because the internet is not the same place it used to be.

This is not an eulogy for Twitter, that has been done ad nauseam. This is me trying to wish the world the end of microblogging as it exists right now.

We need to spend more time with less things. We need to appreciate and engage with the art we consume, and the ideas we have.

For the love of god, stop trying to make Twitter (again).

Fresh form the garden 🪷

punki punki 🎶

I’ve been revisiting some of the albums I listened to on the spring

The Last Thing Left is one of the most beautiful little things I found last semester.

Airy guitars and dreamy vocals, the 2022 album by the Korean indie group has a nostalgic pace I can’t help but adore.

Also, the little boy in the bike? He’s just me fr

Youtube 📹

Map Men is back, Map Men is back, Map Men is back, Map Men is back, Map Men is back, Map Men is back.

Adult Swim posted the first episode of the new Superman series on Youtube, and it’s just amazing. Go give it some love, and lets pray that Warner decides to renew it.